Hi. From my experience, banks want to train new heads from the start in their own corporate culture. For assistant traders they hire almost always from "top" colleges (whatever that is). They care more about what school you went to then what you know about markets. They will want to train you, and want you to be able to execute their strategy that has worked for them not you coming up with your own. Forget about networking because there is a glut of MBAs that are doing the same thing. Those are some of the reasons why I believe banks do not care about personal trading experience. However, if you have a terrific track record, it will increase your chances that a hedgefund will be interested about it. That's your ticket.
He sounds pretty much on target. Why don't you give it a shot and let us know how you did? ... thing is, most of us want to be independent traders/don't want to do the process involved with becoming an institutional trader, so our focus is going to be on what works for us. GL
Is it true that BB firms have significantly cut down on hiring new traders at this time for obvious reasons ? Thanks.
To the OP, i am actually very similar to you except i am computer science not EE and already work in the financial industry as IT. The thing is if you are looking to become a real trader (not one of those bullshit business analyst / trader assistant (bitch) jobs), you need a MBA from a top tier b school to be considered. Once hired, you will go through about 1 year of training which they rotate you from desk to desk to educate you how the whole industry works and where best to put you. After that you will start your job for real. Per my calculation, if everything goes perfectly it will take at least 5 years, which means i will be in my early 30s just to start..... Another way is to be on the IT side and work side by side with the trader on their trading systems, sometime you will get lucky and transition into the business (trading) side after a few years of really trying. But it's VERY stressful working in IT on a trading system, you are basically the trader's bitch they will yell/scream at you when the market is down even if the system is working perfectly, many long hours, fire fights, and unreasonable requests "i want this bullshit strategy that i will probably never use coded into the system by tomorrow" etc... They say jump, you say how high.... For me, none of those options look good. I rather learn as much as i can on my own while keeping the day job, and eventually trade for myself. But the idea of quitting my day job and depend solely on my own trading as income still scares me, it's a difficult step to take, some never will.
I have worked in tech many years as a software / hardware developer on embedded systems, and I started trading my own money 2 years ago. I trade in the morning (I'm in Seattle also) It's great as you have the best part of the trading day from 6:30 - 8:00. At first things were pretty rough, but I settled into a basic system - I just trade a few big tech stocks and ride the early momentum, be that up or down (mostly down lately). I also do some scalping, shorting intermediate highs, or buying into dips. I have been profitable for 10 months - actually I'm making quite a bit more than I make at my SW job - so I feel I'm ready to quit and trade full time. I interested to hear from anyone who thinks I'm stupid, crazy, making a big mistake, etc. It's very interesting to hear from others on this thread about the MBA requirement for a professional trader - it was something I considered (professional trading) but I'm not sure I'm willing to go to business school. I would imagine professional trading with large amounts of money is much different (and more difficult) than trading modest amounts in your personal account.
I don't think an MBA is a requirement -- it seems to me that the vast majority of top traders don't have one. That said, an MBA seems a perfectly reasonable way to get there, if MBA programs suit your fancy and you can get into a program from which your target employers are willing to hire.
It appears that the hiring system is set up to hire only the recent graduate. So if you are out of school for more than a year, it will be very difficult to get a position in trading unless you go back to grad school for MBA or something finance-related. This is my biggest dilemma right now.
No doubt -- I spent more than a decade at a firm with a gaggle of in-house EE's. Smart folks, but utterly incapable of making simple decisions because of the above. Also desperately lacking common sense. Those guys would never have made it as traders.
Why doesn't this person try and become independent from the 9-5 Circuit Design job that he has by asking for a flexible contract or finding a good company with flex hours. Seems this is the logical step before taking on 3 years of learning how to trade fulltime. Check out Adrienne Toghraie's books, they offer a short study on whether or not your lifestyle at this time is suitable for you to become a fulltime trader. P.S Renaissance for one as an example of a reputable trading firm, does not hire MBAs (so don't feel bad about not having one).
so many engineers hate their jobs! Everything related to engineering seems to have no value! poor boys, why did you choose to study such shit?